jim kacian’s haiku primer
First Thoughts–A Haiku Primer
(title subject to change)
Jim Kacian is editor of Red Moon Press
co-founder of the World Haiku Society; and past editor
of frogpond, journal of the Haiku Society of America.
Installment eleven of 11
[click here to read all installments to date;
don't forget to consult jim's haiku Glossary]
Endnote–
Haiku: The World’s Longest Poem
You have now begun the journey of haiku. You will help maintain its lineage by knowing what it is, how it works, and what has been valued in it for centuries. You will help make it new by bringing to it your own vitality and sensibility, and the new experiences and values which only you and the future can supply. This is what is necessary for haiku to matter: a sense of its past, a relevance to the present, a growing into the future.
It will also help you to see haiku, and your place in it, in larger terms. Haiku is, as we have seen, the world’s shortest poetic form. Properly considered, it is also the world’s longest poem. The goal of every haiku is to see the world aright, see it whole, see it true. Every haiku contributes some small piece to this seeing. Every haiku aims, then, at a common goal, and as such can be seen as a piece of a whole. When considered in this way, haiku becomes the agglomeration of thousands, even millions, of small moments, from nearly the same number of poets over several centuries, shared by way of a common form. We are a part of this far-ranging community, and as such can feel the power which community can bring to such an enterprise. Bash
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